The Toothbrush Family
The Toothbrush Family is a 1974 Australian children's animated television series featuring a group of anthropomorphic toiletry products.
Originally conceived by Marcia Hatfield of Australia as her son refused to brush his teeth,[1] the Toothbrush Family expanded to include two international television shows, DVDs, CDs, videos, audio cassettes, publications, EP and LP record series.
They are commonly remembered from the first series, where they came to life at night when the moon shone into the bathroom.
The main characters in the family were father Tom, mother Tess, the kids Tina and Toby, and Gramps. Also featured were other bathroom objects: Flash Fluoride the toothpaste, Hot Rod Harry the electric toothbrush (portrayed as having wheels and a love of speed), Bert Brush, Cecily Comb, Nev Nailbrush, Susie Sponge, Shaggy Dog, Callie Conditioner and Sally Shampoo.
The episodes were written by Marcia Hatfield, screenplays by Al Guest and Jean Mathieson, and they were produced by Rainbow Animation.
The series has been shown on Captain Kangaroo, ABC Kids, Network Ten (1998 series only) and Nine Network in Australia, Cartoon Network in the United Kingdom and Ireland, TV Tokyo in Japan, YTV in Canada, Italia 1 in Italy, Spacetoon in Indonesia, and Al-Majd Kids Channel in Saudi Arabia.
The show later returned for a second series in 1998 (which was later doubled with another animated series Ketchup: Cats Who Cook) and focused on two new characters Molly and Max, along with three other characters, Susie Sponge, Flash Fluoride the toothpaste, and Countess de Comb. The theme song was sung by Kurt Elling.
It was written by John Patterson, produced by Ron Saunders, and directed by Craig Handley[2] and produced by Southern Star Entertainment, Film Australia and Shanghai Animation Film Studio in association with Roymark Television.